From The Ashes
by Howlitzer
Summary: Hearts united. A time remembered. We still rise, and rise, and rise.


a/n: A simple tribute. In God We Trust.

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><p>The skies were cloudy, with the sun trying to push its rays through every so often. It was morning in the City that Never Slept, the one known for its shopping and stadiums and subways. The one known for its diversity, its strength, its pride.<p>

This was the place.

Slowly but surely, something started to glide down towards the city from the clouds high above. At the same time, a plane flew across from the other side of the nation, propeller spinning freely and red paint shining in the sun's glow.

Blurs of motion came across the nearby interstate, the city welcoming them with her open arms and streets and hearts. The clock ticked on, silently. It would go unheard for a while longer.

Figures shuffled in uniform, gathering. Moving towards what they knew, what they remembered.

Towards the horror. Towards the pain and suffering. Towards the screams that had faded to nothing from years past, the countless tears that must have dried in the asphalt for blocks around.

Still they moved onward.

The plane landed in a field, in the state of Pennsylvania. The plane's pilot made his way to the large gathering nearby, holding flowers in his hands.

The clock ticked on.

The one in the skies continued his descent, carrying a jewel in his hands.

Two figures made their way to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. They carried flowers in their hands.

The blurs of motion coming into the great city became one, a flash of blue like the sky itself. It slowed as it moved ever forward, towards the site where the past lay suspended in time.

But this was no time to fear it.

The girl in the red dress waited patiently, holding a single red rose in her hand. Her companion arrived, sliding to a stop in front of her.

She nodded, and he did the same. They started their walk together, with him holding a glowing gem in his hand.

The pilot bowed his head before heading back to his plane, golden tails swishing behind him. He took off towards the city where his brother was waiting.

The agents at the Pentagon disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared moments later near the girl in red and the boy beside her. Two were now three, and they acknowledged their comrades.

The blue hedgehog held up his gem. The black hedgehog held up his, and the white bat hers. The robot revealed one in its chest, and the pink hedgehog showed hers to them. They continued their walk.

The clock ticked onwards.

The red bi-plane landed in the city, on a designated street. Twin tails spun and lifted their owner into the air, eventually landing him near his friends. He held a glowing gem to show to them.

They nodded as he presented himself, continuing their walk.

The red visitor arrived last, carrying a gem in his hands as he floated down from the skies.

Behind him, the chameleon, bee, and crocodile carried rings of flowers as they walked. The young rabbit girl and her mother carried bouquets in their arms and they followed as well.

The time had finally come, and the clock was deafening in its silence. The numbers were ones that had been etched into nightmares, into horror stories and feelings of despair. But they had also caused many to rise from their pain, to seek a better tomorrow and a better world, fuelling passions and desires.

The clock made its presence known.

The time was 8:46 A.M.

The time was 9:03 A.M.

The time was then 9:37 A.M. They held their silences, their hearts the only thing sounding.

Lingering feelings of rage and sorrow touched each of the heroes as they stood in place…anger at being able to do nothing, sadness at watching lives torn apart and taken away. Choking bitterness that ran into them, through them as they stood and remembered where they were on that day. Wanting to do something, anything…knowing that it was too late for action…the tears they could not stop, and the souls that they could not rescue…

The feelings tossed and turned within them all, and within the humans that surrounded them in silence.

The time was 9:59 A.M.

The time was 10:03 A.M.

The time was 10:28 A.M.

The silence ran through them unceasingly, but a sound, the unsubtle step of a pair of red and white sneakers broke it. He looked back at his comrades, and they placed their gems into his hands. They started to spin around his blue frame and glowed, and he slowly walked with them to the place everyone knew by heart.

This place was called Ground Zero.

The glittering Chaos Emeralds stopped their spinning and landed on the ground in a circle as he guided them. The pink hedgehog came to his side and placed her rose, her single red rose, in the circle that the Emeralds made. She bowed her head and grasped the boy's hand as he stood beside her.

The hearts of those at the site were tuned to the gems of miracles, and each of the ones there could feel warmth growing inside of them because of it. The warmth filled each and every body, every soul touched by the power it carried. Not the power to turn back time. Not the power to destroy enemies. Not the power to raise the dead.

This power was unlike anything else.

This was the power of hope.

Shining beams of light rose upwards from where the towers once stood. They rose from where the flowers lay in a Pennsylvania field. They rose from the walls of the Pentagon in Washington.

Hearts and minds were united as one, united to remember that they had hope - hope that they could look to each other. That despair could not and would not stop them.

The blue hedgehog opened his mouth, the words coming to him as his spirit willed it. They carried the defiance he and this nation of people shared, that they showed to the entire world proudly. They carried the strength that they all had shown.

These words rang throughout the silence.

"No weapon that's formed against us…will ever prosper."

They were words that many knew well, that many had already turned to. He had learned them recently, and they were fresh in his mind. They were words that had already been spoken, in many ways, in many languages. But they were words of power and courage.

And they were words that rang true.

The lights of hope shone on, piercing the clouds above. The warriors and heroes and ordinary people stood in silence, in reverence as time passed, aware of how far they had come. Aware of the truth that brought them to this day.

No weapon had prospered against them.

No weapon ever would.


End file.
